As a customer care person, you are placed at an important vantage point between the company and the customer. You (should) have visibility into the product and people in your company beyond what your customers currently knows/can see. You are there to solve problems for the customer using both information that may already be publicly available to the customer as well as information that is not.
If you know something that the customer should know, tell them. Tell them as soon as you know. If time is running down on an SLA and you are still waiting on an answer from Engineering, find a nice way to tell them that (the phrase “I have escalated this matter to our Engineering team” works). If you are investigating something specific, tell the customer what you think might be the issue. If you need them to provide you with more information from their end, ask them right away so they know the ball is in their court.
I can’t count how many times I have seen a support ticket with numerous back-and-forth internal notes in it and no response to the customer. Things are obviously happening. Ideas are being shared. Surely there is something there we can tell the customer.
If it is a question between providing what you think is a perfect answer and speed, choose speed.
If it is a question between providing what you think is a perfect answer and providing context, choose context.
If it is a question between assuming something or asking the customer, ask the customer.
You are the customers’ eyes in the company, let them see.
You are the customers’ ears in the company, let them hear.
You are the customers’ voices in the company, speak up for them….. and to them.
Camille E. Acey 
Leave a Reply